Everything you need to know about the raw aged goat cheese

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February 12, 2021

The farm staff and myself recently sampled over 20 different types of raw goat cheese… and a goat’s milk caramel. Oh my, they are all so yummy. Our favorites are now available in the store!

Compared to cow cheese, goat cheese has a tart, earthy flavor. From the extra sharp Kidchego to the spicy Monterey hot jack to a traditional goat gouda to a mild and smooth goat yogurt cheese, these cheeses do not taste “goat-y”.

I also went a little deeper and interviewed Amos Miller from Misty Creek Goat Dairy.

Amos makes the new goat cheeses. He is also the goat farmer AND farmer Aaron’s uncle.

Amos is a first generation dairy goat farmer and has been raising dairy goats for 20 years.

After Amos’ father narrowly skirted death after having his wisdom teeth pulled in 1966, his mother’s dream was to have a dairy goat operation on the property she lived on. After his mother passed in 2000, Amos and his wife moved back onto the property to fulfill her dream and started farming dairy goats.

In the end, his mother’s dream became their dream! And, now, his two sons continue the legacy and have goat dairy farms themselves. In fact, our goat milk comes from Crystal Brook Farm, Amos’s son Henry’s farm.

Amos is a first generation cheesemaker, too. He started making cheese because, well, he really likes cheese. He said, “There’s just something about it.”

For years, Amos took all kinds of cheesemaking classes, many of which were hosted at a local cheese conference. He hired a cheese consultant to help, too. As Amos said, it was “a lot of classes, a lot of conferences, and a lot of rubbing elbows.” He officially started making his own cheese about 10 years ago.

Amos makes all of his cheese on premises and ages it in reefer trucks specially outfitted for cheese aging.

When cheese is made on the same farm that the milk comes from, like Amos’s goat cheese, it’s called “farmstead” cheese. When you buy milk in and turn it into cheese, it’s called “artisanal”.

Amos is very small in the world of cheesemaking. He makes about 50,000 lbs per year.

The goat herd at Misty Creek Goat Dairy has about 100-120 goats.

There are a lot of crosses between Saanen, Alpine, LaMancha, Nubian, and Toggenburg. He’s working to switch to a 100% Alpine herd, but it will take a few years. He aims to have the highest quality stock.

The goats go out on pasture in the warmer months and are given free access to an organic feed year round.

The pelleted goat feed is GMO free and soy free. It contains corn, wheat middlings, wheat, canola meal, sunflower meal, field peas, calcium, molasses, salt, magnesium oxide, manganese sulfate, and sunflower oil. They also give goats kelp for nutrition.

There are many nutritional benefits to eating goat cheese.

Since goat’s milk is naturally A2, it’s highly digestible.

It contains a good amount of vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats. This includes copper, riboflavin, and calcium.

The fatty acids in goat cheese metabolize faster than those in cow cheese. This means you will feel full faster and perhaps eat less, which is great for those concerned about overeating.

Many people feel that cow milk produces too much mucus in their system. And, switching to goat milk solves this problem. This is true for Amos’s wife, a nice perk of having a goat dairy :)

Cheese is such a healthy food. Learn a lot more about the reasons why here.

Misty Creek Goat Dairy uses vegetable rennet to make their cheese. This means the cheese is vegetarian.

Amos has a lot of vegetarian customers, and he wanted to make his cheese accessible to them. The rennet he uses is a fermentation-produced chymosin. I recently learned a lot about rennet, and you can read about my rennet research here.

My final question for Amos was “What’s your favorite cheese?” Amos’s answer was “It depends what mood I’m in.”

I agree! There are so many delicious cheeses out there, and each is special in its own way. Maybe I’m in the mood for a stinky blue cheese with a punch, or maybe a goat cheddar for snacking, or maybe a creamy goat yogurt cheese on a toasted sandwich.

I highly suggest giving the new raw aged goat cheese a try. If you have any questions about them, please let me know. I’m always happy to help!

Raw Dairy

Farming Practices

Health and Nutrition

Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Not a fan of the confusing, greenwashed labels in store? Yea, me too! And it's especially real for me, because I'm responsible for getting our labels approved with the "powers that be". Here's a little story with a big inside scoop... I made new labels for our bone broth a little while ago. It didn't go as smoothly as planned. Why? I put the little icons about our farming practices on them. They look like this: Yup, despite being 100% accurate and true, they were denied!! We're not allowed to put those statements on our food labels. So, I asked the USDA guy, "What would it take to get those claims on the labels, anyway?" The answer was kinda shocking. First off, there's some guidance on wording. Silly technicalities in my opinion. For example, you can't use the term "No Spray" but you can say "Produced without the use of synthetic pesticides." Or another example is that you can't say "No Routine Antibiotics or Vaccines" but you can say "Raised without routine use of antibiotics or vaccines." Second, the processor needs to update their documents to provide traceability. In other words, they need to document how they make sure the bones for our bone broth don't get mixed up with bones from other farms. I mean, this is pretty simple, especially with small batch foods like ours. But the documentation needs to be meticulous. Drafting it in government-approved language can be time consuming and/or costly. And lastly, once you get the wording and process right, you need proof. This was the real shocker for me: Want to know what proof would suffice for all the claims above? A 2-3 sentence affidavit (AKA a super short letter) signed by all farmers that supply us. That's it!? This lead me to a bunch of questions: What if a company submits a letter from one farmer but actually has other farmers that supply them, too? What if a company changes farmers? Will they submit new letters?What if a company's farmers change their practices in the future? Will they immediately update their labels?Are the "powers that be" checking on this? Is anyone checking on this?Is this why most farms and food facilities don't allow outside people coming in? It seems to me that, if a business isn't doing what the label says, the only way to find out is via a whistleblower. And the only way to make them stop is to take them to court. You know, like what's happening with Vital Farms and their pasture raised egg claim right now. It seems to me that, all that good natural stuff on labels - grass fed, pasture raised, antibiotic free, etc - doesn't mean it's true. Certifications are a little better, but the same kinda thing can be said about those, too. This is why, at Miller's, we choose to NOT sell in stores. No wholesale for us. In fact, we don't even have an on farm store. We only sell directly to our customers via our website. And, we choose to only get certified for what's required. This way, we can make our own natural standards. And, we can provide you will all the info and proof you need. Descriptions, photos, blog posts, test results, and more. So, what do you think? Should we do the affidavit thing to get claims on our bone broth labels? What proof do you need to feel confident in your food choices? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us 😊

Everything you need to know about the raw aged goat cheese

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Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566